Poll: How Do You Expect the Cubs 2026 Postseason to End?

[Wilson A2000]

Derrick Rose & Cubs hype video

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

If the series goes three every starter will probably end up in the game anyway, unless we get some surprise masterclass by someone

Boyd would be on 3 days rest for Game 1 vs Brewers this Sat Oct 3 if Cubs win this series.  Maybe they try to keep someone like Shota for that start.

[soccer10k]

36 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Boyd would be on 3 days rest for Game 1 vs Brewers this Sat Oct 3 if Cubs win this series.  Maybe they try to keep someone like Shota for that start.

You do whatever you need to do to win the series and then you worry about the next series if you get there. It's like saving your closer for a save situation in extras that might never come.

[Geographyhater8888]

12 hours ago, gflore34 said:

How many times have we've seen this get flipped in the PS?  It's weird like that, well, it's not really, weird, it's because baseball is the most random of all sports.  Strange things will happen.

I’d love to advance to the LDS and knock Milwaukee out of the playoffs much like the Padres discarding their 111 win rival Dodgers in 4 to advance to the LCS back in 22, going 5-14 against in the regular season (4-9 vs Milwaukee).

This Cubs (the Bears for that matter) don’t pull this Cinderella shlt off, unfortunately.

Edited Tuesday at 10:06 AM by Geographyhater8888

[Bull]

16 hours ago, Outshined_One said:

The flip side to that argument is, "These teams did it without spending hundreds of millions of dollars, why can't big market teams do the same?"

End compensation picks for small markets. Baseball parity returns!

[Jason Ross]

Without being cocky, I've got Cubs in three here. Really like them to take either Game 1 or Game 2. Expecting it'll go King and then Pivetta.

King is good, but the 2024 dominant version isn't there in 2026. He's a guy who's outpitched xERA and xFIP this year because the Padres have a good (but well short of the Cubs) defense. He's striking out significantly less hitters. Means more balls in play which is a tradeoff the Cubs should like, considering they're the best offense in baseball. 

Pivetta is a month out from his IL stint which cost him all season. Has not gone over five yet but can assume he can go longer in a playoff game. Very fastball heavy. He's been very good, no velo drop and has a weird arm angle. That said, his HR/FB% is impossibly low while throwing a ton of flyballs and he's probably due for some regression. Yes, San Diego isn't the home run haven but the Cubs are the best home run team in baseball. If there's one team who can power a few out, it'd be the Cubs.

On the flip side, Petco will help keep the ball in the park. Padres are mid-pack in home runs and bottom 10 in ISO. This isn't a San Diego's Home Park thing either, they are 14th in home runs on the road. Cubs biggest bugaboo is their inability to keep balls in the park. If there's one pitching staff that can give them up in bunches in SD it's probably the Cubs, but you have to hope the park plays into that. If they keep the ball in play, they'll give their elite defense a shot.

Give me Cubs in 3. They'll knock off either King or Pivetta (I'll say now it's King) and then in game 3 it's going to be a bit of a wild one. The Padres have no one worth a damn; so it's Buehler likely. And given that they're so reliant on the back of their bullpen to close games. it'll be interesting to see what kind of a shape they're in. Think they'll be close games, but Cubs in three.

(The Cubs will then probably lose to Milwaukee, sending Cubs' internet spaces into a very deep, and dark place right before a lockout. That'll be fun, but I'll worry about that in the NLDS).

[Irrelevant Dude]

4 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Give me Cubs in 3. They'll knock off either King or Pivetta (I'll say now it's King) and then in game 3 it's going to be a bit of a wild one. The Padres have no one worth a damn; so it's Buehler likely. And given that they're so reliant on the back of their bullpen to close games. it'll be interesting to see what kind of a shape they're in. Think they'll be close games, but Cubs in three.

Safe to assume no live post-shows following these late games? 🙂

[Jason Ross]

4 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Safe to assume no live post-shows following these late games? 🙂

No live post! But we are doing previews and reviews. So we're going live tonight at 8pm cst and doing a deep dive.

I'm on Fall Break, so I have literally nothing going on today. Figure I'll get super in the weeds on Boyd vs King, pitches, stuff like that! And then tomorrow we'll do a deep dive game recap and Game 2 preview the same way. 

If the Cubs make it to the NLDS we'll bring back the live post games. But 1am EST is both brutal on me as a human and frankly, cannot imagine many people being with us haha

[Bertz]

13 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Without being cocky, I've got Cubs in three here. Really like them to take either Game 1 or Game 2. Expecting it'll go King and then Pivetta.

King is good, but the 2024 dominant version isn't there in 2026. He's a guy who's outpitched xERA and xFIP this year because the Padres have a good (but well short of the Cubs) defense. He's striking out significantly less hitters. Means more balls in play which is a tradeoff the Cubs should like, considering they're the best offense in baseball. 

Pivetta is a month out from his IL stint which cost him all season. Has not gone over five yet but can assume he can go longer in a playoff game. Very fastball heavy. He's been very good, no velo drop and has a weird arm angle. That said, his HR/FB% is impossibly low while throwing a ton of flyballs and he's probably due for some regression. Yes, San Diego isn't the home run haven but the Cubs are the best home run team in baseball. If there's one team who can power a few out, it'd be the Cubs.

On the flip side, Petco will help keep the ball in the park. Padres are mid-pack in home runs and bottom 10 in ISO. This isn't a San Diego's Home Park thing either, they are 14th in home runs on the road. Cubs biggest bugaboo is their inability to keep balls in the park. If there's one pitching staff that can give them up in bunches in SD it's probably the Cubs, but you have to hope the park plays into that. If they keep the ball in play, they'll give their elite defense a shot.

Give me Cubs in 3. They'll knock off either King or Pivetta (I'll say now it's King) and then in game 3 it's going to be a bit of a wild one. The Padres have no one worth a damn; so it's Buehler likely. And given that they're so reliant on the back of their bullpen to close games. it'll be interesting to see what kind of a shape they're in. Think they'll be close games, but Cubs in three.

(The Cubs will then probably lose to Milwaukee, sending Cubs' internet spaces into a very deep, and dark place right before a lockout. That'll be fun, but I'll worry about that in the NLDS).

Yeah King's ERA makes it look like he's back to being the star he was two years ago, but really at this point he's just a boring average sinker/slider righty.  It's baseball so you can't make firm predictions about a single game but King is the exact type of guy our lineup tends to eat alive.

Pivetta's been throwing up zeroes since he came off the IL but has lost the ability to miss bats.  Very reminiscent of Boyd earlier this summer.  Hopefully the luck runs out tomorrow.

IMO the big thing is we can't let the Padres win a game where they don't use the meat of their bullpen.  If the Padres go like King-Vazquez to get 9 innings tonight because Boyd got knocked around or the bullpen coughed up a 4 run lead or whatever it'll be tough to come back knowing the next two days are essentially 6 inning games.

[ILMindState]

Case Keenum got me hyped. Cubs in 3, Cubs in 6 vs Milwaukee, Cubs in 5 vs whoever. Cubs in 7 vs the Red Sox in the World Series. That last regular season looms large in giving us game 7 at home. Bregman is gonna go wild and carry our offense. 

[Rex Buckingham]

Isn't Pivetta a big changeup guy?

[mk49]

10 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

Isn't Pivetta a big changeup guy?

No, he's more of a fastball/breaking ball guy.

[Bertz]

10 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

Isn't Pivetta a big changeup guy?

No, that's part of why he's been a late bloomer IMO.  He's got a fastball, cutter, and two breaking balls and early in his career they bled together too much and lefties torched him.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Fangraphs does not like us https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds/postseason-zips?&series=NLWCS2

[The_Achiever]

How does Petco rate as far as being a home run park?  Hopefully Shota can give us an effective start there, he's been our most consistent starting pitcher this year.  

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

2 minutes ago, The_Achiever said:

How does Petco rate as far as being a home run park?  Hopefully Shota can give us an effective start there, he's been our most consistent starting pitcher this year.  

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/statcast-park-factors?type=year&year=2026&batSide=&stat=index_wOBA&condition=All&rolling=3&parks=mlb

It's a very bad hitter's park but weirdly the home run number is above average. I assume the ball would die more with night games though.

[mk49]

13 minutes ago, The_Achiever said:

How does Petco rate as far as being a home run park?  Hopefully Shota can give us an effective start there, he's been our most consistent starting pitcher this year.  

For HR/9, Gausman (as a cub) is worse than Shota.  He gave up 3 times more HR's than Shota this month.  Either way, hopefully, those two guys and Boyd will pitch well enough to win 2 games.

[mul21]

On 9/28/2026 at 10:49 AM, mul21 said:

Quick and painless.  I hope they prove me wrong.

This is looking unfortunately prescient.